I just finished listening to this podcast. I feel sick.
I am a Utah County active Mormon trying to hold onto a thread of a testimony to keep me active in the Church. I wait for that inspiring “a-ha” moment when I will get a “Holy Ghost” feeling or the Church makes a wonderful revelation that will help solidify my testimony. I fear I wait in vain.
What I have “known” but “put on the shelf” for years, and what this “announcement” solidifies even further:
1) The leaders of the Church are no better than me. I have as much, or more, access to the divine as they have. They are simply successful business men who were, or have become, “career Church” and now run a multi-billion dollar business. They do what is necessary to protect that business… at all costs.
2) The Church is no better than any other “run of the mill” church. Preach Jesus, repentance, holy ghost, pass around a hat (or a 3.5 x 6 grey envelope), setup a shingle and there you go. Nothing else needed.
3) The unquestioned adherence to every word the “brethren” say by the “lock step robots” is downright terrifying. If these guys don’t even know what Mormon Doctrine is, if they cannot discern right from wrong, if they cannot lead us to a higher ground, what good are they? And to think they “command” an army of drones that will jump off the nearest cliff if they tell them to. I hate to say it but it is Nazi’ish.
Mr Stevenson, I have attended my LDS Orem ward for 25 years now. At least 95% of them are exactly “lock step robots”. In fact I can’t think of a better term to describe them. I hope that outside of Utah there is more individual thinking. Remember the KSL Doug Wright Show quote, “When two people agree all of the time, only one of them is doing the thinking.”
4) You cannot trust the judgement of anyone employed directly or indirectly by the Church. They are in crosshairs of the firing squad. Their daily bread depends on them always “looking on the bright side.”
If the game is “find the one true church,” you must consider all sides of all issues, otherwise you might just happily sit in your “incorrect church” all your life and never find the wonderful nirvana that is the LDS Church. Or, vice versa?
5) You cannot trust the word of deep rooted anti-Mormons. To be fair, they have an agenda too. However, I hear more truth, as the Holy Ghost burns by bosom, coming from them than from Church leaders.
6) I cannot allow Church leadership to have control over my life. If they are just men, no better than me, then they do not deserve the promise I made in the Temple to never talk “bad” about them.
When I made that promise I was an 18 year old boy who simply wanted to fit into my loving Mormon family and group of friends. I went to the Temple because that is what Mormon boys do at that age. If I would have known then what I know now, I would not have done it.
When we have Stake or Regional visitors at our ward, I watch the behavior of the members. Wow! No need to explain because if you have seen it you already understand, and if you have not seen it you probably work at BYU.
My plea.
Mr Monson et. al.
I would wager that you are scared to death, you feel a huge weight, you do not get the “revelation” that you thought you would, you have to fight for every “burning in your bosom.” You probably thought you would walk into the Holy of Holies and find something that would confirm you really are God’s mouthpiece. When you found nothing, you had to dig deep. You had to convince yourself that such is the “norm.” But you feel inadequate. You wonder.
I am fine with that. If you would just tell me, I would respect you so much more.
If you do this, I would like to be like you. I want to explore, ask questions, understand, search for my own “burnings.” I want to be accepted in my congregation for the person I am, with all my flaws. I want a loving ward. I want to be in this fight “with” you.
Your current behavior creates an illusion of absolute knowledge. You demand silent adherence. You know the mysteries of the universe. You cannot lead us astray. You are the man. That mirage is unsustainable. It will eventually crumble. It is starting to crumble.
Indirectly your behavior produces a society of fear. I cannot grow at Church. You won’t let me talk about anything interesting. I can’t ask the questions that I want to ask because the Inquisition is always listening. The “Stake Hit Squads” are at your beck and call. Why do you do that? I hear it is because you love me. I am confused.
I wish I could write this post using my real name, but the environment of fear that you and your predecessors have created does not allow me to do so. I have a family, kids, a positive neighborhood reputation, future temple weddings to protect. I am forced to prostitute my morals to stay under your radar.
You are a slightly entertaining story teller putting on a show that has no substantive output. You are behind the curve. You are out of touch. You are entertainment. You are repetitive. I am told that is because I have not adopted what you have already told me. That is false.
Please, just tell me the truth. Just be a human. Just tell your marketing department to let you be human. The Potemkin village they construct around you is transparent.
I would guess there are a lot of people waiting for you. Please don’t let me down.
Bakirish,
This is a courageous post and much of it resonates with me. Joseph Smith is dead and he is who he is for better or worse. His restoration of the painting of Jesus needs another restoration and the Leaders know it. Give it another 20 years of internet and much more "Leader - Member symbiosis" and we may see a Gorbachev in the LDS church who promotes Glasnost and Perestroika. Would the example of the RLDS church be satisfactory to you ?
Mormoni